HHFDC Withdraws Environmental Exemption for Waikōloa Affordable Apartments

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 10, 2026

HHFDC Withdraws Environmental Policy Act Exemption for Waikōloa Affordable Apartments Project

WAIKŌLOA VILLAGE, Hawaiʻi. The Hawaiʻi Housing Finance and Development Corporation (HHFDC) on August 25 withdrew its determination that the Waikōloa Affordable Apartments project qualifies for an exemption from review under the Hawaiʻi Environmental Policy Act (HEPA). The withdrawal follows a request submitted in July by Wildfire Safety Advocates.

The request was grounded in the evacuation record. In the 2021 Mana Road Fire, Waikōloa Village residents sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic for one to two hours on the community's single primary exit, normally a four-minute drive. In Lāhainā, 102 residents died, and the official fire progression report shows that within the first 90 minutes, the fire had advanced 1.3 miles from its point of origin, with many of the deaths occurring inside that window. Waikōloa Village measures roughly the same distance from its mauka edge to its makai edge. A fire driven makai under comparable red flag conditions could cross the developed area within that same window, while the county's evacuation traffic study, funded by Hawaiʻi County Civil Defense, projects clearance times for the Village measured in hours rather than minutes. The gap between how fast the fire moves and how slowly the traffic clears is the hazard.

The Affordable Apartments project would add about 850 residents on the south side of Waikōloa Road at Quarry Road. Three other projects are in the pipeline: Waikōloa Greens, LLC, adding roughly 1,900 residents south of Waikōloa Road mauka of the Post Office; the County's Kamakoa Nui affordable housing project, adding roughly 2,400 residents between Paniolo Estates and Kamakoa Gulch west of Paniolo Avenue; and Nana Kai, phase one of the Waikōloa Heights development at the north end of Paniolo Avenue. Together, these projects would add thousands of residents to a community that has not opened a new evacuation route since the 2021 fire.

HEPA requires that the cumulative impacts of multiple projects on public health and safety be investigated and disclosed, and that mitigation be identified, before public resources are committed. Increasing the number of people who must evacuate a community with a single primary exit is the kind of cumulative impact the statute is designed to surface. With the exemption withdrawn, the developer must prepare the environmental assessment required by the Act, which brings the cumulative evacuation risk into the public view before the project moves forward.

Wildfire Safety Advocates also asked Governor Green to support the request. The Governor's office responded, and Governor Green has indicated he supports HHFDC's reconsideration. We appreciate his attention to the safety of this community.

The requests submitted to HHFDC and Governor Green are posted in the Actions archive at wildfiresafetyadvocates.org.

Wildfire Safety Advocates is a Hawaiʻi Island 501(c)(3) working on the structural causes of wildfire risk: roads, power lines, building standards, and evacuation infrastructure.